Brady's arm coming around, too

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady expects to be on the field in exhibition games next month — his first action since injuring his knee in the 2008 regular season opener.

“Yeah, I think I’ll play,” he told reporters after practice on Friday. “I mean, last year it wasn’t like I wasn’t supposed to play. I would have loved to have played. Just some circumstances came up where I couldn’t.”

After missing the entire preseason last year with an unspecified foot injury, the two-time Super Bowl Most Valuable Player — and 2007 NFL MVP — was playing the first quarter of the first game last season when his knee collapsed on a hit from Kansas City Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard. He missed the rest of the season.

Back on the field for training camp this week, Brady admitted to some arm soreness as he works to get back into football shape.

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“It feels pretty good, and then you come out and do four or five practices in a row and it doesn’t feel as hot, so it’s part of what training camp is about,” he said. “The soreness becomes a part of the practices and you just have to do a good job of taking care of yourself.

“My arm was in really good shape coming in. It still feels like it’s in good shape, so hopefully it stays that way.”

Brady said he doesn’t spend much time thinking about the repaired knee. He is wearing a brace during practices.

“I’ve kind of made a concerted effort to move on,” he said.

“That was last season and this is this season. I don’t think about it. I think it’s been a great learning experience for me and I’m using it, really, as a positive.”

Jets say Sanchez has edge

Mark Sanchez received the slight edge from coach Rex Ryan on Friday in the first practice of what could be a summer-long competition with Kellen Clemens to be the New York Jets’ starting quarterback.

“It probably wasn’t the best day in throwing completions, but I thought Sanchez had a really good day,” Ryan said after the morning practice.

When you look at it, he threw a couple of balls that could’ve been picked, but other than that ... I thought he threw the comeback and deep out exceptionally well today.”

Sanchez was 2-for-5 in 11-on-11 drills, while Clemens was 4-for -8 with an interception by Darrelle Revis.

Pierce before grand jury

New York Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce finished two days of testimony Friday before a grand jury investigating a gun charge against former teammate Plaxico Burress.

Pierce emerged from a Manhattan courthouse after about two hours of testimony and did not speak to reporters.

His attorney Michael Bachner said the grand jury asked Pierce a lot of questions and that his statements were “clear, coherent and consistent.”

Pierce was with Burress at a Manhattan nightclub last November when the wide receiver shot himself in the thigh.